The use of solid state electric generators to convert chemical energy and other energy forms into electricity has recently been demonstrated, as explained, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,114,620, 6,218,608, 6,222,116, 6,268,560, 6,327,859, 6,649,823, 7,371,962, and 7,663,053. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,114,620, 6,218,608, 6,222,116, 6,268,560, 6,327,859, 6,649,823, 7,371,962, and 7,663,053 are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Such energy conversion devices efficiently convert chemical and other energy forms. For example, FIG. 1 herein illustrates a solid-state electric generator along with graphs showing characteristics of such a device. As shown in cross section in FIG. 1-A herein, a charge carrier, usually an electron e−, is energized on or near a conducting surface 10A by an energizer 12A. The charge carrier is energized, for example, by chemical reactions or other energy forms. In each case the charge carrier is injected into a semiconductor conduction band. For example, the charge carrier ballistically moves from a conductor 10A into a semiconductor or dielectric 11A. The conductor 10A is so thin that the electron effectively travels through it ballistically, without losing significant energy by colliding with other electrons, phonons or atoms. Since an energy offset exists between the semiconductor conduction band and the Fermi level of the conductor or conducting catalyst, the result is a voltage 14A across positive terminal 17A and negative terminal 16A. In FIG. 1-A, the dielectric junction 15A is a semiconductor junction specifically chosen to create an electrical potential voltage barrier which tends to impede the electron ballistic motion, shown as 11B in FIG. 1-B. FIG. 1-B shows the electrical potential in the device as a function of distance along the device at zero bias.
The potential voltage barrier can be formed in any one of many ways, for example, a Schottky barrier as shown in FIG. 1-C, a p-n junction in FIG. 1-D, or a conductor-dielectric-conductor junction, FIG. 1-E. The dielectric is electrically conductive. A forward biased diode provides one of the simplest methods to implement this energy converting device. FIG. 1-C depicts a forward biased Schottky diode whose positive terminal is a conductor/metal.